December 12, 2008	Friday	Zilhaj 13, 1429

NEW DELHI, Dec 11: An Indian militant based in Nepal who allegedly helped Pakistani gunmen cross India’s porous borders to stage attacks is being brought to Mumbai for questioning in the recent siege of the Indian financial capital, police officials said on Wednesday.

Sabauddin Ahmed was arrested in February with another militant who police say had scouted Mumbai targets a year before last month’s attacks, they said.

Both men are Indians — a blow to Indian officials who have blamed Pakistan-based militants entirely for the three-day siege, which left at least 171 people dead and paralysed large parts of Mumbai.

Ahmed was based in Kathmandu where he took orders from handlers from the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, said Amitabh Yash, director of the police Special Task Force in UP state.

Ahmed, from Madhubani in the eastern state of Bihar, was being held in Uttar Pradesh, but was being brought to Mumbai for questioning, Rakesh Maria, the city’s top police investigator, alleged.

Yash said that Ahmed managed safe houses in Nepal, using that country to smuggle Lashkar members into India. Yash said he was able to take advantage of the fact that Indians didn’t need passports to enter or leave Nepal.

“He was their main point man in Kathmandu, a very trusted man by Lashkar,” Yash said.

Ahmed told interrogators that during his Lashkar training, he had contacts with several officials from Pakistan’s intelligence service, the Directorate for ISI, Yash alleged. “He named a lot of ISI officers,” Yash said.

It was unclear whether Ahmed had any links to the recent Mumbai siege, but Yash said he had participated in Lashkar operations against Indian targets before.

He led a Dec 31, 2007 raid in the northern city of Rampur against a police camp that left eight constables dead, Yash said. For that attack, he brought weapons from a LeT leader in Kashmir to Rampur, and also ferried two Pakistanis — Abu Sama and Abu Jar — to the area, Yash said.

Ahmed was arrested on Feb 10 with two Lashkar operatives from Rampur, the two from Pakistan, and one from Mumbai, Faheem Ansari. Ansari was found with a map highlighting south Mumbai targets that were attacked in the siege. Police say he had been preparing for the attacks since 2007.

Ansari is also being brought to Mumbai for questioning.

Ajmal’s remand

Meanwhile, the lone surviving gunman involved in the deadly attacks was remanded in police custody on Thursday for a further two weeks, a police official said.

“We have remand up to 24th of December,” said the officer in charge of the investigation, Mumbai crime branch chief Rakesh Maria.

Magistrates and court officials were seen visiting the detention bloc of the Mumbai police headquarters shortly before midday, and they left around 15 minutes later without making any comment to the media.

Police said they had asked a magistrate to visit the headquarters rather than transport the suspect, because of security concerns.

Police said Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman (Some Indian officials have identified the suspect as Mohammed Ajmal Kasab and Ajmal Amir Kasav) faced a string of charges, including “making war against the country, murder, attempted murder and other charges under the arms and explosives act.”—Agencies